Tradition: Macedonian Mythology, Bulgarian Mythology
Alternative Names: Zmey Marko, Marko Zmey
Category: Dragon
The Myth
Marko is a zmey, a supernatural dragon-like being who appears in a folk song from Prosenik in the Serres region. He is associated with thunder and the mysterious power of storms.
The song tells of Todora, a beautiful young woman who goes into the green forest and sits beneath a great vine. There she encounters Marko, the zmey. He often insults her, yet he also brings her a flower, and Todora approaches him with a request.
She asks Marko whether he knows a spell that can make her brother, her sister-in-law, and the old Jovanitsa tremble. Marko tells her exactly how to bring about the terrible trembling. When thunder strikes, she must remember to turn back, take dust from the earth, and scatter it over the three people.
Todora remembers his instructions. When the thunder crashes and the earth trembles, however, she turns back and takes the earth-dust as Marko commanded. But instead of sprinkling it over her brother, her sister-in-law, and old Jovanitsa, she sprinkles it over Marko himself.
The song ends with Todora turning Marko’s own supernatural power against him, leaving the zmey as the victim of the spell he had taught her.
Sources
Verkovich, Stefan. “Chapter 5.” In Narodni pesni na makedonskite Balgari (Folk Songs of the Macedonian Bulgarians). Liternet.bg. https://liternet.bg/folklor/sbornici/verkovich/5.htm